Immediate Family

About 2nd Lt. Henry Moore Harrington, 7th U.S. Cavalry

Henry Moore Harrington (April 30, 1849 – June 25, 1876) was a military officer in the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment who perished with George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn in the Montana Territory.

Harrington was born in Albion, New York, the son of Shelby A. Harrington and Nancy K. (Moore) Harrington. Early in his childhood, his family relocated to Coldwater, Michigan. He attended the Cleveland Institute at University Heights, Ohio before accepting an appointment to West Point in 1868. Upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy (ranking 17th the Class of 1872), he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry and assigned to Company C, 7th United States Cavalry with an initial posting to North Carolina. He married Grace Berard, the granddaughter of a West Point professor. The couple had two children.

In 1873, Company C was reassigned to the Dakota Territory and Harrington accompanied Lieutenant Colonel (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer on the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition. In 1874, he took part in the Black Hills Expedition.

In 1876, Custer's column departed Fort Abraham Lincoln and embarked on the Little Big Horn campaign. The 7th Cavalry was short of officers, and Harrington commanded Company C during Major Marcus Reno's scout along the Rosebud River. A few days later during the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Harrington was killed in action. His remains were not identified on the battlefield, and he was declared missing in action and presumed dead.

His bereaved wife made a series of trips to the area to look for his body or information regarding his whereabouts if he had survived the savage fight, but to no avail.

In 2006, Custer’s Lost Officer, The Search for Lieutenant Henry Moore Harrington, 7th U.S. Cavalry by Walt Cross was published. For 128 years, Lieut. Harrington was listed as missing in action. His skull was discovered in the anthropological holdings of the Smithsonian Institution. Lieut. Harrington was honored by the Sioux warriors as The bravest man the Sioux ever fought.